While first-quarter earnings were down roughly 7 percent from the year-ago period, they so far appear poised to fall roughly 3 percent year over year in the second quarter, CNBC explained. That means the rate of change, or the so-called second derivative, is improving, he said.

"When you look at inflection points, you have to look for the second derivative, and that certainly has improved for the first quarter," Timmer told CNBC. "Whether that's the beginning of a sustained trend remains to be seen of course, but there's definitely a green shoot here on the earnings front," he said.

"If we now have a friendly liquidity environment through central bank easing, plus we have a few green shoots on the earnings front, I think that will stabilize the markets and maybe even give it some upside here," he said.

But other market pundits see a much darker immediate future for stocks.

And famed market bear Marc Faber is actually growling even a little bit louder these days.

The editor and publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, told CNBC that stocks are likely to endure a gut-wrenching drop that would rival the greatest crashes in stock market history.

"I think we can easily give back five years of capital gains, which would take the market down to around 1,100," Faber said, referring to a level 50 percent below Monday's closing on the S&P 500.

"The fact is, the market hasn't really been driven by genuine buying, but by stock buybacks, takeovers and acquisitions, and market leadership has been narrowing. It's not that many stocks that have been making new highs. It's quite a narrow growth of stocks that have been very strong," he said.